Wilson drug take-back event nets more than 100 pounds of pills

Wilson County Sheriff’s Department raked in more than 130 pounds of pills over the weekend through a National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s district office in Nashville, as well as other DEA offices throughout the state, again partnered with local, state, national and tribal law enforcement agencies and officials and community coalition groups to hold its eighth drug take-back day nationally Saturday.

A location sponsored by the Wilson County Sheriff’s Department was set up at Crye-Leike Realtors at 1432 W. Main St. in Lebanon from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. for the public to drop off expired, unused and unwanted pills free of charge with no questions asked.

According to Lt. Scott Moore, the one-day event was a success.

“Everything went well,” Moore said. “We confiscated approximately 112 pounds of prescription pills, as well as 18 pounds of non-prescription pills that brought the total weight of pills we collected to about 130 pounds.”

Moore commended the public and department’s efforts in ridding their homes of potentially dangerous drugs.

“In pill weight, 130 pounds, that’s a lot of pills,” Moore said. “And that’s 130 pounds of pills that we don’t have roaming the streets, schools and the community.”

As for the event, Moore said this is the department’s third year of participating in the take-back day and he felt the day went “very well” and the department received a lot of positive feedback from the public.

“This event has gotten bigger and better every year, and we hope that it continues to grow every year,” Moore said. “The amount we collected is a lot of pills, and if by doing this we keep one person from overdosing or dying, it’s well worth it.”

The amount of pills the department collects at take-back days, which are held twice a year, usually in April and October, differs, Moore said.

“The amount we got this year is right around the same as we usually get,” Moore said. “The most we’ve ever gotten was probably about 140 to 145 pounds, but we usually average anywhere between 70 to 130 pounds.”

The next drug take-back day is set for October.

“This past event was a real effective one to me, and hopefully we can grow on it,” Moore said.

Moore said a major contributor to the success of the take-back day was also the support within the department, especially from Sheriff Robert Bryan.

“A great thing is having such a supportive sheriff like Sheriff Bryan who’s a big supporter of this cause and takes any chance he can to get these drugs off the street,” Moore said. “He’s very proactive with this and does everything in his power to get us in the department involved and get us out there to get these drugs off the street.”